akatsuki ra-ra-ra

Somewhere at the end of the road

akatsukira — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:48:36 +0000

cottage, originally uploaded by framboise.

No, it’s not snowing in Los Angeles. Not yet, anyway.

Just felt this photo taken during the winter of 2009 was somewhat appropriate for my mood today. I can see somewhere warm and welcoming, but I’m still on the road. It’s paved like a treadmill that does not allow me to get any closer despite walking as fast as my legs can go.

We all have days like these. At least it’s sunny outside in SoCal.

Filed under: 2682725

Future, Filed

akatsukira — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:58:52 +0000

Today I stood in my old office,
Shelves stacked with files and folders.
As I wiped down the desk
And emptied the drawers,
My mind drew a blank
On the contents of all these data holders.
Four years, they represent,
Of toil and thoughts in equal measure.
Half happy, half bad,
And ninety percent kept strictly to myself.
This career is one, I thought,
That lends itself to introspection.
However we bluff and bully,
Only in our minds is the truth known.
Four years of data gathered,
The same of literature read.
So full of potential,
Yet so full of trash.
On my shelves,
My future: filed.

Filed under: 2682725

Chicken Onna Beer Can

akatsukira — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:21:22 +0000

Our Thanksgiving Chook. No turkey for us; we’re having turkey for WinterPaganFestival, and I don’t eat turkey more than once a year.

Recipe in brief:

Dry rub of brown sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, random couscousesque spices slathered all over washed and dried chicken.
12oz can of beer opened, and taste tested. Important, that… More spices added to remaining beer in can (~10 fl oz). Chicken delicately placed onto beer can (as photo shows).
Grill prepared. Ashy charcoal pushed to sides of pit, medium sized foil baking tray placed in middle. Cup of water poured into tray. Chicken with beer can up its bum placed on tray.
Chicken grilled in closed pit for ~80 to 90 min. (A few more chunks of charcoal added at 45 min, lid left open until charcoal flames died down again.)
Chicken and can taken out of pit (taking care not to spill hot beer) and allowed to rest for 10-15 min.
Chicken devoured by wolves.
Carcass devoured by wolves.
Humans devoured by wolves.
Photographer obviously survived.

Posted in akatsuki eats Tagged: bbq, chicken on a beer can, recipe

and breathe…

akatsukira — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:43:52 +0000

It’s been manic. My summer disappeared in a haze of work (good) and people throwing hissy-fits at work (not good). Early autumn was devoted to preparing for, attending, talking at, and then recovering from a large science conference in Chicago. Some fortuitous foresight on my part in summer meant that I also had a few days to enjoy Chicago after (more on that later). Post-Chicago, I hit the ground running again on the work front, and also dived into the craziest social season my mega-lab has seen since my first summer in LA. It was great but hectic. All in, this left barely any time to just sit, relax and breathe.

Today is (was, by the time I type this) the great American holiday of Thanksgiving. So, as an honorary resident alien, I give thanks today for the chance to have a wee breather.

And grill a chicken with a beer can up its bum (recipe).

And drink some leftover mango cocktail.

The dog was happy that we were home all day, despite how she looks in the photo. (She’s just shy…)

I even started and finished a new knitting project (’twas a swick… it was only a wee owl…).

And I remembered what it was like to be able to breathe. For that, and a whole bunch of other onions, I am thankful.

Posted in akatsuki eats, akatsuki talkingrot Tagged: bbq, chicken on a beer can, cocktails, dog, gratuitous doggy photo, thanksgiving

Cryptic Crossword No. 24813

akatsukira — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:56:40 +0000

Unlikely to get this one finished, but I thought this clue was quite cute:

24 across Mark, Barbie’s friend, toasted so? (5)
To-ken

Posted in 2682725 Tagged: brummie, clues, crossword, cryptic, guardian

Notes on Quiptic No. 514

akatsukira — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:22:01 +0000

I was having one of those days at work. You know, the ones where you spend the whole day setting up stuff and waiting hours for the bloody enzyme to do its work… All hurry up and wait. And I was reminded by a comment about quiptic crosswords, which are an excellent way to pass the time when one is sick to death of reviewing manuscripts… I’ve not done any cryptic/quiptic crosswords since my subscription to Guardian Unlimited ran out a few years ago. And as a super pleasant surprise, I found that the Grauniad is no longer charging for access to their crosswords. Nice one!

This week’s Quiptic No. 514 was set by Arachne, whose crosswords I have a slightly better chance of completing than many other setters… And since I’ve come back to these after years away, I thought it might help to write wee notes about solving these types of clues… Here are a few that took my fancy in lazy list fashion (highlight below to see answer and brief explanation):

9 across: Crimes of those who receive stolen goods (8)
Offences; those who receive stolen goods=fences. add the “of” before it to get… crimes!
12 across: I practised a complicated branch of medicine (11)
Paediatrics; an anagram (indicated by the use of “complicated”) of “i practised a”.
1 down: Tending to fall over kid’s misplaced computer accessory (6,4)
Floppy disk; tending to fall over = floppy and an anagram of kid’s = disk.
6 down: Blushed and wept about male child (9)
Crimsoned; this one really annoyed me for a while… It had to be “son” or “boy” somewhere in the middle, surrounded by a synonym of wept, which I reckoned must be “cried”. Only after I worked out the word by solving intersecting clues did I realise that I also had to add an “m” for male. Duh.

Anythehoo… If you stumbled across this looking for hints on how to solve quiptic crosswords, I hope this helped a little bit. I learnt by a combination of trial and error and discussing the clues with my crossword-loving colleagues in my previous lab. What one of us couldn’t get, another would. I miss that lab…

Posted in akatsuki talkingrot Tagged: clues, crosswords, cryptic, quiptic

Torrance

akatsukira — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:03:40 +0000

I’ve always thought of Torrance, CA as being a bit of a warehouse town. It’s one of the many cities of Los Angeles County that we zoom through on our way to the coast or the mountains. And on the 4 or 5 occasions we’ve driven through the streets of Torrance, we’ve seen nothing other than strip malls and gigantic office blocks that double as warehouses. The architecture of the malls and warehouses are so similar that I can’t even say if we’ve simply driven on the exact same streets every time.

However, there is another side to Torrance. Like all the satellite cities around LA, it’s home to the thousands of commuters that clog the 405 twice daily¹. And having visited a friend’s cottage in the heart of this warehouse town, I can now report that Torrance can be, in fact, quite a pleasant place to live for a lot less $$$ in better accomodations. For the too many $$$ we forsake for a 1 bedroom apt in SaMo, we could easily have an entire 2B2B cottage, with yard for dog. And a garden. With a gazebo. And a firepit (see evidence below).

But even having a firepit can’t convince me that it’s worth the daily journey through hell on the 405.

¹ Which can sometimes make a 20 min drive from work to home last for a good 60 min if there’s been an accident on the 405.

Posted in akatsuki snaps, akatsuki talkingrot, akatsuki travels Tagged: firepits are da bomb, satellite cities of LA county

Tenacious Sweet Pea

akatsukira — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:38:20 +0000

Its fellow sweet pea plants have given up the ghost, but this one is soldiering on. Pretty amazing given that I just threw some seeds in the ground in Spring and hoped some would get enough water to sprout and survive this hellish desert heat.

[Goes off to check seed packet only to realise this is a potentially a perennial plant...] Oh well. Still, well done old girl…

Oh Sweet Pea

Come on and dance with me…

Posted in akatsuki snaps, akatsuki talkingrot Tagged: flower, my lalaland veggie patch, sweet pea

A<3M | P<3M

akatsukira — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:02:28 +0000

It’s that time of the year when I realise my garden is overgrown, under-weeded and in need of some pruning. Which is also usually when I realise that there are plants in said garden that I don’t pay any attention to all year. Until they flower. Like this iris, right by our front door:

It was looking pretty this evening too, so I took another shot.

Which led to the Skinnamarink song worming its way into my head…

I love you in the morning

And in the afternoon

I love you in the evening

Underneath the moon

Which led to rediscovering a childhood favourite that I’d forgotten about: The Elephant Show! With an extremely infectious theme song:

Posted in akatsuki snaps, akatsuki talkingrot Tagged: flower, gardening, iris, youtubery

Where did June go?

akatsukira — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:47:49 +0000

June came and went. I noted its passing briefly on the 1st of July. When I look back in later years, I will find a large hole in my life where Science erased¹ June².

¹ Please note segue. Thank you.
² Would be funny if my name were June.

Posted in akatsuki as signtist, akatsuki talkingrot